A Woman To Admire
Klara Mundt
Luise Muhlbach, a German novelist, was
born in 1814 as Klara Muller. Her husband, Theodore Mundt, was
for some years a teacher in the University of Berlin, and afterward
became professor of general history and literature in Breslau,
and then became director of the library of the Berlin University.
In politics he was a liberals and often gave offense. For many
years he was an invalid, but the income from the works written
by his wife enable them to live in comfort.
Under the pseudonym of "Luise Muhlback",
Mrs. Mundt produced more than fifty novels, and her works comprise
about one hundred volumes. She was a prominent advocate of woman's
suffrage and other radical changes in the status of women. In
politics, she was, like her husband, an extreme liberalist and
actively participated in several reform movements.
Her fame rests chiefly upon her historical
romance novels. In this field she wrote extensively. Most of these
works were well known in England and America as well as in her
native Germany. Among the best known are: "Frederick the Great
and His Court", "Joseph II and His Court", "The Merchant of Berlin",
"Louisa of Prussia and Her Times", "Marie Antoinette and Her Son",
"Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia", "Queen Hortense", "The Empress
Josephine", "Goethe and Schiller", "Mohammed Ali and His House",
"The Thirty Years' War", and "Emperor William".
Her works brought her a fortune which
was well earned and she was enabled to build a handsome home in
Berlin, which became the meeting place of both literary and social
leaders.